Is there REALLY a nursing shortage?

Nurses General Nursing

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This is an interesting article guys/gals...

Here's the letter I wrote to the President, Vice-President, U.S. Congress Rep. and Senator:

"I'm an R.N. and I recently started working as an agency nurse because the pay is so much better and the hours are very flexible. The hospital system in my area that uses most of the agency nurses is in the process of hiring foreign labor to cut costs and fill positions. I read an article, "Is there REALLY a nursing shortage?" by Richard Armstrong and what he said really concerned me. It is true that American jobs are going overseas and there are over 8 million Americans out of work. People who go to school for certain professions do not have jobs when they graduate. Where is the AMERICAN DREAM going??? I realize our country is a melting pot and all, but what about OUR JOBS for US HERE???!!!

Please abolish the H-1B program. Americans need to demand that employers not be allowed to replace American workers with foreigners... I'm finally not living paycheck to paycheck as a nurse and I'm finally able to get ahead... But now there is this big black cloud looming over my head and it's full of foreign nurses trying to get out of THEIR country to take MY job. :( Why are you letting this happen to your fellow Americans???

Sincerely,

Marie L. Schultz

Shreveport, Louisiana"

I don't know if it will help or not, but I figured it was worth a try. Nurses from India, Africa and Thailand (among others) are coming to the Shreveport area to fill gaps of this so-called nursing shortage so that the hospital system I work at won't have to use agency nurses. Instead of paying American nurses better... this is what is happening. Nice. Very nice.

Do you see this happening where YOU are??? I just started working agency and that's all I'm doing right now. I love it. I just started April 19th, 2004 and here it is... not one month later and 15 foreigners are starting in the next week or so as a "pilot" for the other 3 hospitals of this hospital chain. This hospital chain uses most agency nurses here in Shreveport. They're trying to get rid of agency nurses all together by using these other nurses.

Again I ask: Do you see this happening where YOU are???

Thanks in advance. :o :angryfire

Actually, it isn't in the best interest for hospitals to have revolving door and new nurses. New nurses usually need 3 months on the job training with a preceptor. So everytime that a new grad fills an empty spot, the hospital has to pay that salary, as well as the preceptor because that preceptor is not going to be taking care of different patients.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

shortage: the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required.

i think there is a shortage of people who will work at what is at best a nebulous expectation/definition of the job.

let's look:

that nurse didn't bring me my ice/water....bad nurse

that nurse didn't get juice for my spouse who has hypoglycemia.

that nurse didn't come to work today because she-worked 4 hours over last nite, because she has a sick child with no daycare because of her long hours.

that nurse is here because she is sick and only has 5 days a year to be sick. hope she doesn't make me get sick.

that nurse was late giving mama her medicine (she only had 60 patients to medicate in the hour allowed)

that nurse should have known the doctor intended to give xxx med, not yyy med. nurses are supposed to know those things.

that nurse should have known i have- an allergy, diabetes, high blood pressure, no i didn't tell her, it's in my chart (somewhere) i shouldn't have to tell her.

that nurse looked pretty tired, what does she do all day? i see them sitting at the desk (everyone in uniform at the desk is a nurse!)

and yes read your journals, that nurse should have, should have, should have should have..........

that nurse left nursing, and it tears her heart out, because she *is* a nurse.

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Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

I know in our paper the nurse want-ads went down from 5 pages to 3 pages.

I had to retired due to my health(bad back from lifting heavy stuff for 30 yrs) and a bunch of other stuff. I have to say I am glad I am out of the work force. I was getting to the point of being just disgusted from the patients families. I cared for the patients, but the families were just nightmares anymore. the media paints us in such a horrible light that the public thinks we are all rotten. And every family member is out to prove the media is right and no matter how hard we try to change it, we can't.

And the big thing is management only wants to keep the "customers" happy and even if we were right you still get written up for just about anything. I was written up for standing in front of a bedside monitor and had my hands on my hips I was checking all my readings, Cardiac output, heart rhythm,etc,etc. and all the family said i had an attitude because I had my hands on my hip. It is just stupid.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

if there wasn't a shortage would hospitals be paying for nurses in other countries to uproot and come work here?

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And the big thing is management only wants to keep the "customers" happy and even if we were right you still get written up for just about anything. I was written up for standing in front of a bedside monitor and had my hands on my hips I was checking all my readings, Cardiac output, heart rhythm,etc,etc. and all the family said i had an attitude because I had my hands on my hip. It is just stupid.

That reminds me of the time one of my "customer's" friends complained about me because I was seen standing with my hands on my hips while reading a monitor screen.

My supervisor looked at the complainer, stood up, and in his most serious voice said, "Let me get this straight. You are unhappy because she put her hands on her hips. Is that correct? Well, as far as I am concerned, they are her hands and her hips, and I as I see it, she can put her own hands on her own hips if that's what she wants to do."

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
That reminds me of the time one of my "customer's" friends complained about me because I was seen standing with my hands on my hips while reading a monitor screen.

My supervisor looked at the complainer, stood up, and in his most serious voice said, "Let me get this straight. You are unhappy because she put her hands on her hips. Is that correct? Well, as far as I am concerned, they are her hands and her hips, and I as I see it, she can put her own hands on her own hips if that's what she wants to do."

I'm sure some people think I have an attitude problem too, in that case.

However, putting my hands on my hips helps expand my rib cage. In other words, don't take it personal, just trying to breathe over here. :madface:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

It wasn't about the money for me. It was about too many patients and not enough support for a new grad. I would have happily taken less money per hour (blasphemy around here I know) for saner working conditions. I'll keep looking for a position in nursing that doesn't push me to the depths of depression, but if I don't find it so be it. I will not sacrifice my mental and physical health for the working conditions that so many nurses are subjected to. Life is way too short and there is no amount of money they could pay me that would make me want to do that.

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shortage: the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required.

i think there is a shortage of people who will work at what is at best a nebulous expectation/definition of the job.

and yes read your journals, that nurse should have, should have, should have should have..........

that nurse left nursing, and it tears her heart out, because she *is* a nurse.

:crying2: oh , now you really have made me cry, its me you are talking about, and probaly quite a few other "beaten down" nurses, just like me who also have left nursing, the noble profession.
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if there wasn't a shortage would hospitals be paying for nurses in other countries to uproot and come work here?
Have you considered that the hospitals/nursing homes want foreign nurses because they will work cheap and wont make waves?
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Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.

I went on the nursing website of one state and they had 126 nurses in ONE MONTH to get their licenses either revoked or suspended.

No wonder the hospitals are short.

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I would have happily taken less money per hour (blasphemy around here I know) for saner working conditions.

I heartily agree.

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Hmmmmm I read this thread and went from laughing to crying.....and mostly agreeing the whole way.

I believe after being in 3 different states and landing in the float pool now..

that nurses everywhere are stressed to the max.Most of us got into this profession because we are the "helper" type personality.HOWEVER, thanks to JCAHO and the state certifications....we now have mountains of paperwork to lessen our already short time with our patients.Add this to the ever increasing amounts of meds we need to give patients and I myself find myself sitting in front of a computer A LOT. I hate that....if I wanted to bond with my computer I would have gone to Tech school NOT nursing school.

The hospital I am at now....seniority on the M/S floor=3 years!! Helloooo will someone wake up and smell the coffee....

Not sure what the answer is here...so many factors of causation...I am seriously considering going to work at Subway and here is why:

#1--I can be around hot buns all day.

#2--I can play with meat all day.

#3--I get my choice of 6 inch or 12 inch.

#4--They will call me a "Sandwich Artist".

XANAX LICKS AT NURSE'S STATIONS SHOULD BE MANDITORY!:lol2:

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